Reinforcements for Colorado’s backlogged courts are at least another year away as the appointments of 15 judges are expected to fall victim to the budget ax.
Instead of assigning new judges to eight counties beginning July 1, state lawmakers, facing a nearly $800 million budget shortfall, are likely to stall the appointments until May and July 2010, said Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey.
“It will be difficult to handle the cases because the need is there,” Mullarkey said. “But we will make do and handle the caseload as we have in the past.”
She said some resources will be re allocated and magistrates will be used where appropriate.
In places such as Weld County, District Court Chief Judge Roger Klein said he and other judges will “do everything possible to mitigate the impact” on people needing the courts. However, he also noted that as caseloads increase, it becomes more challenging to meet the speedy-trial deadlines in criminal cases.
The additional judges were supposed to be the final phase of a three-year process adding a total of 43 district, county and appeals court judges in the state. Case filings jumped 139 percent over the past 30 years, while the number of judges increased only 48 percent.
The judicial branch is already dealing with staff hiring freezes that went into effect last year, which has impacted the number of probation officers, court clerks, court reporters and judges’ law clerks.
Chief District Judge Brooke Jackson, who serves Jefferson and Gilpin counties, said about half of the judges in his district don’t have law clerks right now. When combined with understaffing in other areas, Jackson said, cases are taking more time to wind through the system.
“We are still serving the public well, but not as quickly,” he said. “Each office has higher caseloads. It’s a problem.”
Karen Crummy: 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com
